1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of mobile communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mechanism that allows a phone or other wireless device to offer services as if it were an Internet device.
2. Related Art
Currently, all popular desktop, portable computer, and personal digital assistant (PDA) operating systems restrict access to one serial port for a single owner application or process. This is done because the nature of data transmitted over a serial link makes multi-process access unpredictable. Use of the serial port for data communications precludes use of the serial port for simultaneous access to other information and vice versa.
Similar problems arise with communication devices that integrate multiple functions, such as cellular telephones that integrate personal digital assistants (PDAs). Such devices implement a single pipe between the phone related circuitry and the PDA related circuitry. With such devices, there is an inability to display phone status information, such as signal and battery strength, during data calls. When the single pipe between the phone related circuitry and the PDA related circuitry is being used by a PDA's TCP/IP stack, the pipe is prevented from being used to query status information.
Vendors, such as QUALCOMM, Inc., have developed mechanisms to overcome the problem of single access to the pipe, but these mechanisms are proprietary, and thus only available to that specific vendor. The specifications are not made publicly available.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for enabling simultaneous access to module and data services operating within electronic devices (that is, intra-device module and data services) under operating systems with existing PPP drivers. What is further needed is a method and apparatus for providing access to module and data services by multiple applications simultaneously. What is also needed is a method and apparatus for providing simultaneous access to module and data services that fosters communication between devices with diverse hardware architectures and accommodates multiple computer operating systems.